Related papers: Conductance through atomic point contacts between …
The formation and rupture of atomic-sized contacts is modelled by means of molecular dynamics simulations. Such nano-contacts are realized in scanning tunnelling microscope and mechanically controlled break junction experiments. These…
The process of creating an atomically defined and robust metallic tip is described and quantified using measurements of contact conductance between gold electrodes and numerical simulations. Our experiments show how the same conductance…
The continuing miniaturization of microelectronics raises the prospect of nanometre-scale devices with mechanical and electrical properties that are qualitatively different from those at larger dimensions. The investigation of these…
We induce superconductivity by proximity effect in thin layers of gold and study the number of conduction channels which contribute to the current in one-atom contacts and atomic wires. The atomic contacts and wires are fabricated with a…
We present detailed first-principles calculations of the electron-conduction properties of a three-sodium-atom nanowire suspended between semi-infinite crystalline Na(001) electrodes during its elongation. Our investigations reveal that the…
Recent experiments showed that the last, single channel conductance step in monatomic gold contacts exhibits significant fluctuations as a function of stretching. From simulations of a stretched gold nanowire linked to deformable tips, we…
The conductance through a quantum point contact created by a sharp and hard metal tip on the graphite surface has features which to our knowledge have not been encountered so far in metal contacts or in nanowires. In this paper we first…
We have studied experimentally the phenomena of jump-to-contact (JC) and jump-out-of-contact (JOC) in gold electrodes. JC can be observed at the first contact when the two metals approach each other while JOC occurs in the last contact…
The evolution of electron conductance in the presence of inelastic effects is studied as an atomic gold contact is formed evolving from a low-conductance regime (tunneling) to a high-conductance regime (contact). In order to characterize…
We address the quality of electrical contact between carbon nanotubes and metallic electrodes by performing first-principles calculations for the electron transmission through ideal 2- and 3-terminal junctions, thus revealing the physical…
Using the Landauer formulation of transport theory and tight binding models of the electronic structure, we study electron transport through atomic wires that form 1D constrictions between pairs of metallic nano-contacts. Our results are…
Electrochemical methods have recently become an interesting tool for fabricating and characterizing nanostructures at room temperature. Simplicity, low cost and reversibility are some of the advantages of this technique that allows to work…
The electronic and transport properties of atomic-size contacts are analyzed theoretically using a self-consistent tight-binding model. Our results show that, for s-like metals, a sufficiently narrow contact exhibits well defined resonant…
First principle calculations of the conductance of gold wires containing 3-8 atoms each with 2.39 {\AA} bond length were performed using density functional theory. Three different configuration of wire/electrodes were used. For zigzag wire…
The conductance of atomic size contacts has a small, random, voltage dependent component analogous to conductance fluctuations observed in diffusive wires (UCF). A new effect is observed in gold contacts, consisting of a marked suppression…
The conductance of a molecular junction is commonly determined by either charge-transfer-doping, where alignment of the Fermi energy to the molecular levels is achieved, or tunnelling through the tails of molecular resonances within the…
A comprehensive review is presented of single molecule junction conductance measurements across families of molecules measured while breaking a gold point contact in a solution of molecules with amine end groups. A theoretical framework…
We examine the conductance properties of a chain of Na atoms between two metallic leads in the limit of low bias. Resonant states corresponding to the conductance channel and the local charge neutrality condition cause conductance…
By employing a real-space formulation of the Kubo-Greenwood equation based on a Green's function embedding technique combined with the fully relativistic spin-polarized Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker method a detailed investigation of the…
To develop next-generation electronics and high efficiency energy-harvesting devices, it is crucial to understand how charge and heat are transported at the nanoscale. Metallic atomic-size contacts are ideal systems to probe the quantum…